Degrees Awarded

Spanish PhD.

Ramirez Mendez, Jesus David

Dissertation title: "Adjetivacion, Creatividad y Descripcion: La dimension estetica del Nuevo Periodismo en la narrativa de Arturo Perez-Reverte y Luis Spota."

Dissertation chair: Dr. Jorge Zamora
Dissertation committee: Dr. Genaro Pérez, Dr. George Cole
Dean's representative: Dr. Mario Beruvides

Noémie Hamaide (second from left)

Master Thesis title : Les multiples visages de la gare: genre romanesque, lieu anthropologique, nonlieu, lieu d'anxiété et personnages"

Thesis chair: Dr/ Andrea Jonsson
Thesis committee: Dr. Carole Edwards, Dr. Lucas Wood

Languages & Cultures Masters of Art

Alarcon, Lorena, Applied Linguistics
Aldubaikhi, Sumaia, Applied Linguistics
Amaya Camargo, Yesica, Applied Linguistics
Hsu, Kai-Ying, Applied Linguistics, TEIC certificate
Horn, Mathew, Applied Linguistics
Jaf Shateri, Sahar, Applied Linguistics
Liu, Xiaoyu, Applied Linguistics, TEIC certificate
Lewis, Dylan, German
Pedretti-Allen, Miles, Classics
Samaratunge, Ayoma, Classics
Shimizi, Nagisa, Applied Linguistics
Simpson, Tyler J., Applied Linguistics
Soumokil, Marthevienty Herny T, Applied Linguistics
Stine, Brett, Classics
Tawhari, Sultan Yahya, Applied Linguistics

Romance Languages Masters of Art

Aranda, Megan, Spanish
Al Barghuthi, Dania Ashraf, Spanish
Hamaide, Noemi, French
Haney VI, James Paul, Spanish
Rubio Hernandez, Myriam, Spanish
Smith, Alexander E, French
Yandell, Megan, French
del Val Zaballos, Consuelo, Spanish

Languages & Cultures Bachelor of Art

Dupree, Kristin, Classics
Jackson, Dorellyn, French and Dual BBA/MGT
Morales, Kate A., French and BA Economics
Foy, Kieran E., German
Lowetz, Chloe, Classics
Raef, Abigail, Classics

Spanish Bachelor of Art

Andersen, Ethan C.
Berry, Rivir S.
Blake, Leslie N.
Blodgett, Tia B.
Cardenas, Odalis S.
Carrion, Marisa I.
Carroll, Paige A.
Cesani, Alexander T.
Cruz, Daniel J.
De La Rosa Sandoval, Deissy M.
Flores-Garcia, Juana S.
Gilmore, Molly T.
Grimaldo, Mariela A.
Hooten, Jenna M.
Lemus, Lily S.
Marroquin, Crystal
Moreno, Katya V.
Nichols, Jessica E.
Reyna, Gabriel C.
Romero, John A.
Skoller, Mackenzie I.
Sorto, Celine
Zavala, Daniela Y.

Awards, Publications, Presentations and Recognitions

Rula Al-Hmoud, coordinator and instructor for the Arabic program, was selected as one of two finalists for the Texas Tech University Global Vision Donald R. Haragan Study Abroad Award, presented by the Office of International Affairs. Al-Hmoud directs an outstanding summer faculty-led program in Jordan.

She was also received the Raiders Who Rock, "Above and Beyond Award" and was named as one of the most influential teachers at Texas Tech by two of her students who were inducted into the Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society.

Carole Edwards, Associate Professor of French, was selected to attend the President's Leadership Institute 2019-2020.

Sara V. Guengerich, Associate Professor of Spanish, received a research travel grant by the TTU Office of Research and Innovation to conduct archival research at the Bolivian National Archive in Sucre, Bolivia in July 2019. She received the Publication Subvention Award by the Texas Tech Humanities Center towards publication expenses for her upcoming book, The Cacicas of Colonial Latin America, 1492-1825.

Andrea Jonsson, Assistant Professor of French, was awarded the 2019 Hemphill-Wells New Professor of Excellence in Teaching Award.

(photo: Ron Jautz 2015)

Christopher Witmore, Professor of Classics, was awarded the President's Excellence in Research Professorship for 2019-2022.

Olga Pahom, Ph.D., ESL Instructor, co-authored an article with two colleagues from Chemical Engineering which was recently published in Crystal Growth & Design, a top journal in Chemical Engineering. Lee, Y. J., Pahom, O., & Weeks, B. L. (2019). Kinetic Study for Comprehensive Understanding of Solid-State Polymorphic Transitions of Nicotinamide/Pimelic Acid Cocrystals. Crystal Growth & Design, 19(2), 932-941. Click here to read the article.

Victoria Surliuga, Ph.D., Italian was featured in print and presentations this spring. A newspaper article on Ezio Gribaudo, "Nei simboli del concilio una lezione di umanità e di arte.", appeared in L'Osservatore Romano January 6, 2019: 4.

An Interview with Surliuga was published in L'Idea Magazine online: Dossena, Tiziano Thomas. "An Italian Poet in Texas: Exclusive Interview with Victoria Surliuga." December 2018. Click here to read the article.

Surliuga was invited to give two talks on Ezio Gribaudo: one, at the University of Dallas on March 29, 2019, and the other at the Italian Cultural & Community Center in Houston on January 8, 2019.

Surliuga gave a conference presentation on "Federico Fellini and his actors Giulietta Masina and Marcello Mastroianni: A Jungian interpretation of their animus/anima archetypes and meta-characters," at the "Tenth Film Symposium on New Trends in Modern and Contemporary Italian Cinema." Indiana University. Bloomington, Indiana. April 17-19, 2019.

Yanlin Wang, Ph.D., Chinese program coordinator and instructor, received the 2019 CLTA (Chinese Language Teachers Association, USA) SIG Award. She made a presentation of the Design and Principle of Hybrid Chinese Beginning Course at the 2019 CLTA Annual Conference.

Mourad Abdennebi, Applied Linguistics MA candidate, participated in the annual World Leadership Schools instructors training in Buena Vista, Colorado in May 2019.

(Abdennebi pictured backrow 4th from left)

It was an incredible experience for him to meet with so many education leaders, instructors and program coordinators from all over the world. Abdennebi and the rest of the WLS team benefited from learning about asset based community development, curriculum design, cultural Mapping, conflict resolution, and leadership skills during students travel program.

All of this work assisted him to learn more about international education, global issues curriculum, and risk management tools for the upcoming season of working in rural community schools in Morocco. This training also facilitates Abdennebi' s teaching of local languages (Arabic/Berber) as a program coordinator for American students participating in World Leadership School's travel programs to Morocco.

Yesenia Brambila, Classics MA Candidate, was admitted to the American School of Classical Studies in Athens for a competitive summer course entitled "Greece from the Sea," for which she received a partial scholarship from the American School.

Lawrence Chamunorwa, Classics MA Candidate, was elected as a Senator to the Graduate Student Senate.

Alex Claman, Classics MA Candidate, will be joining Dr. Linda Gosner's survey (the Sinis Archaeological Project) in Sardinia for the first half of the summer. For the second half, he will join Alex Knodell's new Goat Island Survey Project in the Aegean.

Gustavo Costa, Spanish doctoral candidate had five articles recently published and was awarded a travel grant, SCOLAS Bertie Acker Graduate Student Award 2019 ($300).

• A ridicularização dos negros no conto "As mãos dos pretos", de Luís Bernardo Honwana. Revista Alpha. (2018): p. 6-13
• Existência e o espaço urbano em "Tabacaria" de Álvaro de Campos. Web Revista Linguagem, Educação e Memória. (2018): p.146-155
• Alcolea del Campo x Madrid: Andrés Hurtado y el espacio social en la obra "El árbol de la ciencia" de Pío Baroja. Fólio - Revista de Letras. (2018): p. 101-113
• Os traços existenciais da personagem Guta na obra As três Marias de Rachel de Queiroz - Revista Athena. (2018): p. 39-48

Maya Edwards, Spanish doctoral candidate and GPTI, has received the prestigious 2019 John Kronik Award for best dissertation project on the Spanish 19th century. The John W. Kronik Research Fellowship is awarded yearly to one graduate student by the Asociación Internacional de Galdosistas for the best research proposal on 19th Century literature with a Galdosian component. My project, titled Space, Movement and Feminine Identity in Nineteenth-Century Peninsular Literature, is a comparative study on the representation of real and imagined space in a series of novels by Benito Pérez Galdós and Emilia Pardo Bazán, analyzing the connection between space, place, mobility, and the construction of female identity in Spain in the second half of the 19th century. Rather than a biographical approach, marking the spaces where these authors lived and traveled, my research will focus on how that consciousness of space is processed and textualized. With this fellowship I plan to travel to a series of archives, museums and galleries in Gran Canary, A Coruña, and Madrid, Spain, to consult materials necessary to consolidate the historical and social framework for my thesis. Edwards also received a Hunanities Center 2019 Graduate Student Travel Grant.

Maurice Gonzales, Classics MA Candidate, was accepted into Michigan Humanities Emerging Research Scholars Program (MICCHERS) this summer at the University of Michigan. He was awarded a stipend of $1000 to use during the two week research project he will work on with faculty.

Haiying Huang, Applied Linguistics MA candidate, received a study abroad scholarship for summer 2019 in the amount of $575.

Ethan J. Mickna (BS Cell and Molecular Biology, Latin and Chemistry minor's degree candidate) earned a Certificate of Commendation on the International CAMWS intermediate Latin Exam for placing in the top 25% of the 145 students representing colleges across the United States and Canada.

Isabel Ojeda, Spanish doctoral candidate, published her first novel, Aurora, which was presented in El Paso, Texas, Las Cruces, New Mexico and in Chihuahua, Mexico during May 2019.

William Tortorelli, Assistant Professor of Practice of Classics, received the Humanities Center 2019 Alumni College Fellow and a Program Development Grant to inaugurating a study abroad program in Sicily with Dr. Sydnor Roy.

Gema Vela, Spanish doctoral candidate, presented a paper titled, ""Desestabilizadores de la domesticidad tradicional: nuevos paradigmas de género y espacio en Hola, ¿estás sola? (1995) de Icíar Bollaín." at the Congress Cine-Lit 9: Mujer y género at the University of Oregon and Portland State Uiversity (Portland) on March 10, 2019.

Melissa Velpel, Classics MA candidate, will be a member of the Apollonia Pontica archaeology project in Sozopol, Bulgaria, run through the Balkan Heritage Field School during the summer.

Pamela Zinn, Assistant Professor of Classics, awarded the Alumni College Fellowship (Fall 2019) from the Humanities Center and the Project Development Grant from the American Council of Learned Societies for 2019-2020.

2019 Helen DeVitt Jones Excellence in Graduate Teaching Award

2019-2020 Texas Tech Graduate School Fellowships

Ana Padial Rodríguez, Dissertation Completion Fellowship (Year's Stipend and Full Support)
Andrew Cosper, United Supermarkets Graduate Fellowship ($5,000)
David Foshee, Rachel Gamarra, AT&T Chancellor's Graduate Fellowship ($4,000)
Zachary G. Brandner, Maya Edwards, Manuel Martín González, Gema Hevia López, J.T. and Margaret Talkington Graduate Fellowship ($4,000)
Gilberto García, Mayra Mancera, Ramona Ojeda, Cecilia Palacio Ribón, American Mexican Friendship -Waterman Scholarships ($4,000)

Back to top

Conferences & Symposiums

Céfiro Enlace Hispano Cultural y Literario, the Spanish and Portuguese graduate student association at TTU hosted the 2019 conference, "Cultural and Linguistic Exchanges in the Digital Humanities Era" from February 28 to March 2, 2019 at Texas Tech University. Experienced and young scholars – graduate and undergraduate students presented their research.

CMLL presenters

Digital Stories and Graphic Novels (Chair: Sergio Ruiz-Pérez)

Sylvia Flores – Classes
Aimee Duarte – Ser hispana en Estados Unidos
Maya Edwards – No pee in Missouri
Andrea López – Ignorancia
Isabel Ojeda – Pensando en ti
Robin Tieperman Nispel – When Dreams Come True. My Language Learning Journey
James Haney – El samurai Hasekura entre culturas imperials y mitologías en La noche de los Yokai

Hispanic Linguistics (Chair: Dr. Brendan Regan)

Robin Tieperman Nispel – Investigating Constraints on the Use of Definite Articles with Proper Personal Names in Chilean Spanish
Andrew Cosper – How Hispanic are you? Sociocultural Linguistic Processes of Identity Construction within Political Discoursesç

Non-Conformity as Literary Topic (Chair: Dr. Sara Guengerich)

Cecilia Palacio – Gloria Damasco, la nueva mestiza detective. Diálogo entre Gloria Anzaldúa y Eulogy for a Brown Angel de Luch Corpi
Jasmin Euceda – Here are the Women of the Beat Generation. Janine Pommy Vega, World Traveler
Verónica Morales – Molina. Su Lado femenino en El beso de la mujer araña

Round table with keynote speakers and graduate students – Past, Present and Future of our Field. Achievements, Contributions, and new Avenues

Gustavo Costa
Gema Vela
Zachary Brandner
Isabel Ojeda

Heritage Languages (Chair: Dr. Rossy Lima)

Sarah Schiffecker – Texas German – A Present Day Glimpse of the Past without a Future
Karina Oliveira de Paula – Is Portuguese as a Heritage Language Important in a Bilingual Context in Tennessee?

Portuguese Literature (Chair: Dr. Antonio Ladeira)

Gustavo Costa – Exclusão e dunúncia social nas obras A alma encantadora das ruas de João de Rio e Aguafuertes cariocas de Roberto Arlt
Cecilia Palacio – Mais do que uma maçã no escuro. A obscuridade que ilumina à Vitoria em A Maçã no Escuro de Clarice Lispector
Dora Aranda – Mãe, religiosa ou prostituta. O retrato da mulher Brasileira Nordestina de seculo XX em As Três Marias de Rachel de Queiroz

Hispanic Linguistics Pedagogy (Chair: Dr. Vasseur)

Yerko Sepúkveda – Promoting an Ecosystem of Learning in the 21st Centrury
Gema López-Hevia, Nia Al-Barghuthi, and Sergio Ruiz-Pérez – Student Attitudes towards Translanguaging in the L2 Spanish Writing Class

Literatura centroamericana y caribeña (Chair: Dr. Miklos)

Arturo Ramírez – Sensualidad híbrida. Representación de la mulata en cinco poemas afroantillanos de principios del siglo XX
Carlos Cornejo – El tiempo y poder en la obra de Carlos Fuentes
Missael Duarte – Las antologías de poesía centroamericanas. El caso de Puertas abiertas
Myriam Rubio – La poesía de Julia de Burgos. El erotismo como herramienta liberalizadora en la búsqueda de la identidad femenina

Contemporary Peninsular Literature (Chair: Dr. Susan Larson)

Zachary Brandner – Mímesis y separatism cultural en la Sonata de estio de Valle-Inclán

Animal/Language: An interdisciplinary Conference Presentations by CMLL

• John Beusterien (Professor of Spanish) Chair, 51st Annual Comparative Literature Symposium; "Talking Birds in Cervantes's The Great Sultana"
• Alec Cattell (Assistat Professor of Practice in Humanities and Applied Linguistics) Panel Chair "Animal Bodies, Ethical Narratives"
• Carole Edwards (Associate Professor of French and Francophone Studies) Panel Chair, Brid Talk
• Charles Grair (Associate Professor of German) "The Voice of the Raven: Folklore and Mythology of the Northern Peoples"
• James Haney (MA student in Spanish) "Animals in the Gutter: An Analysis of a Graphic Novel of a Play by Miguel de Cervantes"
• Belinda Kleinhans (Assistant Professor of German) Introduction of Keynote Address; presentation title, "Meat and Metaphysics"
• Susan Larson (Charles B. Qualia Professor of Spnaish) Panel Chair, "Discourses of Inclusion and Exclusion"
• Don Lavigne (Associate Professor of Classics) Panel Chair "Ancient Origins of Ongoing Debates"
• Anthony Qualin (Associate Professor of Russian) "Lamentations and Peregrinations: Birds in the Works of Chingiz Aitmatov"
• Victoria Surliuga (Associate Professor of Italian) Panel Chair "Animals and the Arts"
• Christopher Witmore (Professor of Classical Studies) Panel Chair "Animal Language, Human Justice"
• Lucas Wood (Assistant Professor of French) "Animal Metaphors and Pedagogies of Consent in Medieval Fabliaux"
• Pamela Zinn (Assistant Professor of Classics) "Muta Animalia?: Lucretius on Animal Language"

Undergraduate Symposium on Identity and Resistance in Global Contexts

Undergraduate students had the opportunity to present projects that addressed the theme of conflicts in human populations. The Undergraduate Symposium on Identity and Resistance in Global Contexts provided an intellectual forum for TTU undergraduate students to discuss issues of identity, conflict, and resistance in the United States and around the world on April 5, 2019. Awareness of the increased challenges related to population and conflict faced by the entire global population, this is a collaboration of individuals in multiple fields used to spark interdisciplinary conversations on these challenges.

Diverse presentation formats added an interesting dimension to the symposium: paper and poster presentations, digital stories and portfolios, podcasts, original music, webpages, photographic documentation of sites of conflict, three dimensional objects-to-think-with. Winners received scholarships, professional development, networking with others on similar themes.

The following students were awarded for presentations at the Symposium:

First Place Presentations: Angel Barron & Christian Jimenez; Yana Romo
Second Place Presentations: Diana Gonzalez; Adrian Lawrence
Third Place Presentations: Claire Weis; Joseph Millican; Olivia Copeland; Storm Huckabee

The following students were awarded for pieces in the Exhibition:

First Place, Critical Category: Haley Arthur & Mark Eisenmann; Darian Hut
First Place, Creative Category: Marcus Gutierrez, Lexi Anderson, Kati Glaspie, Allie Cunyus; Sarah Costanza
Second Place, Critical Category: Sarah Miley & Derek Williams; Joe Vance
Second Place, Creative Category: Chantel Matheu, Daniel Bay, Elijah Lorenz, Thomas Wintermute
Third Place, Critical Category: Camden Anderson
Third Place, Creative Category: Carlie Roberts
Best Abstract: Kunyuan Guo
Unique Presentation: Ashlyn Brown

Back to top

Caliche 2019 Conference – Languages in the World: Teaching, Learning and Researching

The 8th Annual Applied Linguistics and Second Language Conference on Learning and Teaching took place April 5-6, 2019 and was organized by CMLL Applied Linguistics and Second Language Studies program at Texas Tech University with conference chair Yesica Amaya.

Presenters from Texas Tech and other institutions of higher education presented topics relevant to the teaching and learning of second and foreign langauges, as well as innovative research in the language field. Contributions included fields from Applied Linguistics, Formal Linguistics, Cognitive Science, Psychology, Education, Political Sciences, Sociology, Philosophy, and Interdisciplinary.

Student Paper Award- Lorena Alarcon (center)

CMLL Presenters

Mourad Abdennebi (LACU-Applied Linguistics) "Arabic Inflectional Morphology, Teaching Strategies to Arabic L2 Learners"
Khaleel Abusal (English doctoral, LACU-Applied Linguistics alumni) "Can Hand Gestures Help Vowel Lengths Contrast? A Perspective from Arabic as Foreign Language"
Lorena Alarcon (LACU-Applied Linguistics) & Laura Rieder (Romance Languages –Spanish Linguistics) "An Auditory Analysis of Rhotic Assibilation in Northwest Argentina"
Sumaia Aldubaikhi (LACU-Applied Linguistics) Young Saudis' Attitudes toward Saudi Pidgin Arabic"
Yesica Amaya (LACU-Applied Linguistics) "Doing an Evaluation Study on Authentic Materials for Spanish Language Learners"
Karina Olveira (LACU-Applied Linguistics) "Portuguese as a Heritage Language in a Bilingual Context in Tennessee"
Sarah Schiffecker (LACU-German) "Texas German: A Present Day Glimpse of the Past without a Future?
Lorena Alarcon (LACU-Applied Linguistics), "Sociolinguistic Awareness through Multimodal Texts"
Sultan Y Tawhari (LACU-Applied Linguistics) "Errors in English Paragraph Writing Made by Japan University Students: A Linguistic Analysis"
Robin Tieperman Nispel ((Romance Languages –Spanish Linguistics) Investigating Constraints on Use of Definite Articles with Proper Personal Names in Chilean Spanish

Teaching Heritage Language Workshop

A teacher preparation workshop series, under the direction of Dr. Rossy Evelin Lima, focused on helping Spanish language teachers gather tools to better serve heritage language and L2 students took place on April 29 – May 3 in the university Library TLPDC. The workshop participants gathered practical tools for vocabulary expansion in heritage language and L2 students, learned about the standard rubric in assessing writing comprehension in Spanish heritage language courses and how to reconnect heritage language students with the history of their language.

CMLL Facilitators

Megan Aranda, "Digital stories of immersion for Spanish as a heritage language students"
Dania Al-Barghuthi, "Digital stories of immersion for Spanish as a heritage language students"
Carlos Cornejo, "The standard rubric in assessing writing comprehension in Spanish heritage language courses"
Jasmin Euceda, Developing bi-literacy through Chicano literature and critical thinking"
Sylvia Flores, "Reconnecting with culture through authentic materials"
James Haney, "Imágenes y texto: Comics and graphic novels in the Spanish heritage language classroom"
Gema Lopez-Hevia, "Integrating Digital literacies in the Spanish as a heritage language classroom"
Veronica Morales, "Reconnecting heritage language students with the history of their language"
Sergio Ruiz-Perez, "Bringing perspectives and representation to the Spanish mixed classroom"
Yerko Sepulveda, "Bringing perspectives and representation to the Spanish mixed classroom"
Robin Tieperman, "Practical tools for vocabulary expansion in heritage language and L2 Students"
Jacquelina White, "Reconnecting with culture through authentic materials"

SCOLAS 53rd Annual Conference, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico

In March, several CMLL Spanish faculty and graduate students presented at the SCOLAS 53rd Annual Conference.

Drs. Genaro Pérez, George Cole, and Jorge Zamora presented on a panel titled, "Ortodoxia y heterodoxia de la novela criminal hispana".

Jorge Zamora, "La novela negra de no ficción, dos casos mexicanos: Vicente Leñero y Jorge Volpi"
George Cole, "Pasión, violencia y corrupción: El puñal de Jorge Fernández Díaz, una novela narcopolítica de espías"
Genaro Pérez, "El complot mongol: dura parodia del subgénero duro"
Cecilia Palacio-Ribón, "Gloria Damasco, la nueva mestiza detective. Diálogo entre Gloria Anzaldúa y Eulogy for a Brown Angel de Lucha Corpi"
Gilberto García, "El papel de la mujer dentro de la religión yoruba en la poesía de Georgina Herrera"
Verónica Morales, "María Antonia: erótica, violenta y rebelde; transgresiones dentro de la religión yoruba que la condenarán a muerte"
Arturo Ramírez, "El chulo y sus tres mujeres: la semiótica teatral de Ṣàngó en Réquiem por Yarini, de Carlos Felipe"
Gustavo Costa, "El "flâneur" de Plateros: La capital mexicana del siglo XIX en el poema "La Duquesa Job" de Manuel Gutiérrez Nájera"

Back to top

• Newsletter Issue Listing
• Issue 20 Home
• Academic Excellence
• Recent Events
• Study Abroad
• Faculty Focus
• Alumni Connect
• Meet the Staff
• Student Spotlight
• Faculty Book Publications
• Contact & Subscribe
• Give to CMLL